The Faculty of Arts of the University of Hong Kong (HKU) will launch its new Research & Impact Initiative on Communication in Healthcare (HKU RIICH) on Saturday, June 8, 2019. HKU RIICH brings together internationally recognised experts from different disciplinary fields, including linguistics and medical education, with the aim of transforming healthcare practices and healthcare education through evidence-based, translational research.

HKU RIICH recognises that effective communication is a vital component of all aspects of healthcare, from health prevention and health maintenance to illness, treatment and recovery. Ineffective communication impacts patient safety and well-being, leads to mismanaged care, and in some cases patient death, and incurs huge losses to healthcare systems. HKU RIICH is a founding partner of the International Strategic Alliance with Harvard Medical School, Australian National University (ANU), and Nanyang Technological University (NTU) in Singapore, and is already collaborating with several non-governmental organisations in Hong Kong, including Mind HK and City Mental Health Alliance, in the development of workshops and information resources.

Speaking ahead of the launch, Dr. Olga Zayts, Associate Professor in the HKU School of English and Director of RIICH, stated, “Much of the previous research on healthcare communication has been conducted in western contexts. One of the great assets of establishing HKU RIICH and the Alliance with Harvard, ANU and NTU, is that they bring together researchers from more established American, Australian and European contexts and researchers from Asia. This will drive the critical study of healthcare communication and ultimately benefit healthcare professional/patient interactions in the entire Asia-Pacific Region, particularly in the fields of mental health and genetic counselling.”

Dr. Brian Chung, Clinical Associate Professor in the Li Ka Shing Faculty of Medicine and HKU RIICH Member, added that finding ways of putting complicated science into language that is easily understood by the public will be a key focus area for the Hong Kong genome project, a government-led genomic medicine initiative that aims to improve treatments for patients with rare diseases and cancers.

The Launch will take the form of a one-day Roundtable entitled, Talking Together: Making Sense of Health Communication Research, featuring academics, medical professionals, and community stakeholders. Topics of critical importance include, medical technology in health communication, mental health and stigmatisation, sex education, the medicalisation of healthcare and overprescription of drugs. Members of the media are cordially invited to the event. Details are as follows: